Funded by the National Institute on Aging (K08 AG22785-01, T32 AG00251-05, T32 HL07224-26, and R01AG18721). The John A. Hartford Foundation and American Federation of Aging Research provided funding through the Harvard Division on Aging Center of Excellence.

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Objectives: To assess the cause of death for centenarians' offspring and controls.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Community-based, nationwide sample.

Participants: Family pedigree information was collected on 295 offspring of centenarians (from 106 families with a parent already enrolled in the nationwide New England Centenarian Study) and on 276 controls (from 82 control families) from 1997 to 2000. Controls were individuals whose parents were born in the same year as the centenarians but at least one of whom died at the average life expectancy.

Measurements: Age at death and cause of death.

Results: Centenarians' offspring had a 62% lower risk of all-cause mortality (P<.001), a 71% lower risk of cancer-specific mortality (P=.002), and an 85% lower risk of coronary heart disease–specific mortality (P<.001). Significant differences were not found for other causes of death. However of those who died centenarian offsprings dead at a significantly younger age than controls.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that centenarians' offspring have lower all-cause mortality rates and cause-specific mortality rates for cancer and coronary heart disease. These results suggest that mechanisms for survival to exceptional old age may go beyond the avoidance or delay of cardiovascular disease and also include the avoidance or delay of cancer. Moreover survival advantage of centenarian offsprings may not be due to factors related to childhood mortality. Ultimately, survival to exceptional old age may involve lower susceptibility to a broad range of age-related diseases, perhaps secondary to inhibition of basic mechanisms of aging.